Light of Dissent - Fragments of Luminem
Leonius Syphre smiled as he locked the doors of his study, after ordering his butler out. He was the firstborn of Meridia - the original designated crown prince, until Louis II came along and usurped his place in the most unfashionable of ways. It annoyed him greatly, of course, but he respected his brother in the most twisted manner - the man did do a good job after all. Leonius walked to a cupboard, which he opened, revealing a runed basin, which he filled with some sort of holy water, sanctified by special rituals. A small white flame lit up below the bowl magically, causing steamy fumes to rise from the receptacle, which formed into the shimmering visage of a sorceress. The sorceress was no doubt a mortal woman, and she had the red eyes and white hair of one who practiced the Pacts of Darkness. Yet, unlike most of her fellow magicians, she was beautiful, retaining the fine features of a noblewoman, without the aid of illusion or alteration. She was good looking to the extent of inciting jealousy in Leonius, when he realized none of his daughters could compare. In fact, he was trapped in an unhappy marriage, and she was his salvation. "I take it that you know what to do? If Louis comes after me, and if I die, you will cause chaos in Mundus, right? You have your commands, mortal. The price you pay for your beauty ... the pact you made with the daedra I helped to supply to you ... make good on your word and make sure of it. When the throne is mine, I'll let you become one of us" said Leonius. The Sorceress smiled bitterly and said "who said the throne was going to be yours? We have planned ... I don't even take orders from you. You see, Louis II is a perfect King, and one whom all the Aurorans respect and love. They will listen to him. You? You are just a good for nothing piece of trash. I'm not even your lover, idiot. My lover told me, you misdirected Louis long enough, and you now serve no purpose, since he managed to narrow down to you. So, it's time for an exit." "What are you insinuating?" "Please ... please. You aren't even the real Leonius Syphre. You are just a body double, a baby we swapped for Meridia's actual Firstborn after she sacrificed her own power. She can't even tell if a child belongs to her, it's so funny when you realize she's supposed to be an all powerful goddess! I can't even hold in my laughter anymore right now! You Aurorans are such jokes compared to us mortals. Granted, the big time planner IS an Auroran, and he's much smarter than you. Enjoy your animus disruption!" Leonius angrily opened his wings and used the bowl to contact another Auroran. A man he had trusted to put him on the throne. Yet there was no reply. Seconds later, the window shattered as a railgun round pulverized the bulletproof glass into a thousand sparkling fragments, aimed straight for Leonius, who fell over, cradling his shoulder, which was shattered. Electricity gathered around him, but dissipated when his head was blown apart by a second round from the same railgun. Whatever the bullets were made of, Leonius didn't seem to be able to regenerate, and his animus pulled free. A second later, the door of the room came down, as Louis Syphre and Corentin Zeill rushed in, guns drawn. They secured the area immediately, as Louis checked his "eldest brother" for a pulse. Looking at the damage, though, he knew there was no point hoping. Louis sighed and said "well, General Zeill, we came too damned late. Failed to capture my fake brother, and I can't find the real one now. Smart guys even destroyed the head, because the know we have memory readers. Man, Auroran enemies are a real pain in the ass..." Corentin shook his head and sighed "also, damned guy used an animus disrupter. We can't even recover the animus of the dead guy. At least we know he's not your real brother, and we don't need a DNA test to actually confirm that." Louis shrugged and replied "first, if he was my brother, Animus disruption would fail. Second, you do realize he isn't quite as good looking as me ... or my father. There's no family resemblance among us, how can he actually be my brother?" "Fine ... let's go, before the people find us and get the wrong impression. Not like we do not have a legitimate reason in killing him, but I don't wanna do all the explaining" said Corentin, as he grabbed his former pupil's arm and dragged him out. A Few Auroran hours later: Louis sat on a chair, opposite Corentin, who slammed his head on his fists in rage. The older Auroran looked back up and said "ugh, it wasn't your fake brother who's behind all this. The magical bowl ... we managed to recover some magical echoes from it, because the erasure was poorly done. Some flicker of an Auroran ... someone's the real big bad behind the villain." Louis rubbed his sleepless eyes, actually tired, before scratching the silvery stubble on his chin in contemplation, replying "does it even matter? It's still the same story, we are fighting someone, and that someone wants to undermine the monarchy, or lead the Auroran army on an all out assault on the other Planes. That would be disastrous - Oblivion will be thrown into turmoil, and we aren't just the ones who will be suffering losses ... the world order might end up subverted and broken." Corentin shrugged and leaned back in his chair. He had to talk to his son right now, but it was unwise. He realized that by sending Ezriel to the mortal plane as a spirit familiar, he was taking a large gamble. After all, Corentin would lose contact with his son, at least until the sorceress he was bound to died, or freed him from his services as a familiar. This was a complication - he had expected it to be quick. Corentin sighed and spoke up "well, the only hope lies in cornering our opponent. We already roughly know who he is, if it isn't the fake Leonius. Because, it could very well be the one who kidnapped the real Leonius. While we don't have a name, there's only five people who could visit Leonius when he was a kid." Louis looked as his former teacher and said "you know, somehow, I feel our enemy's a close relative..." "That's a distinct possibility, Louis, but the point is, do we even know our true enemy? We can't just go charging into the houses of every prince and princess, before gunning them down with assault rifles. That's unbecoming, and totally stupid." "We'll find a way, Commander Zeill. First, though, we have to retrieve Aurora ... your daughter. As well as her child. The Crown Prince, after Levith. That is of utmost importance. Who knows what damage he could do to the throne, if the enemy uses him? If the enemy has constructed his own slipspace dimension, we might be fighting an adult version of Levith's son very soon." "Yeah ... but do we even know where she is?" "We don't. But we know where her son is, because he shares my blood, so I can track him if I try, via the genewall. This is not the difficult part. It's getting him out of there that's hard. We are going to have to risk it, though. We can't be leaving him to the enemy." Somewhere in Luminem, or maybe not? The young Auroran shrunk back as a Dremora tried to charge him. He had spent at least six years going through repeated traumatic experiences, and the worst thing of all, he couldn't actually escape. Like many young Aurorans of Royal and Noble Birth, he was actually in a region of the non linear time. Except, this one was secret. Also, he couldn't escape, even if he wanted. The dremora almost landed a hit on the Auroran boy, but he dodged. Despite his young age, the power of his Royal Blood was already apparent. He had earlier taken out all sorts of Daedra, poached from the various planes of Oblivion to test him. One by one, he killed them all, sensing the weak spots, exploiting them, learning from his surroundings, without using powers at all. With a singular hit from the boy's fist, the dremora was pulverized into a red mist. The older Auroran in the Plane nodded. The child was ... different. But the boy wasn't at his limit yet. His wings refused to open, and that meant he wasn't even trying. This was frustrating in its own way, but the wings opening would lead to another host of problems altogether. To press the boy harder, the older Auroran gave a wicked smile as a beautiful but broken woman was teleported to his hands. She was no doubt an Auroran as well, and her sad, sad eyes stared into the depths of the boy's soul. "You will listen to me, Syphre boy. If not, your dear mother will die. Or maybe I can ill treat her again. Kid, you know something? This was all my plan, really. I made sure your stupid dad was out of the way, your granddad can't find you and you will listen to me. Kill all these Dremoras, now!" smirked the older Auroran, as he hovered. A massive Legion of 10,000 Dremoras appeared. How an Auroran could summon other Daedra was unknown. The boy looked at the man, pure hate in his eyes. Quite unexpectedly, instead of using only his fists, the boy's eyes started to glow. When the Dremora attacked him, shields of light stopped them, before converting into light beams and incinerating the attacker. It was terrifying to watch, as the kid passively killed every single thing thrown at him. Then the shields morphed into tentacles of light and started to decimate everything, as the boy looked back at his enemies and started smiting entire lines of them with immense light beams and electrical discharges. Magnetic singularities crushed whole groups of Dremoras into bloody balls. The Auroran woman shed tears, watching as her son turned into an all destroying monster. It broke her heart. Power without control. With a burst of strength, she tore free of her captors and flew down, to calm her child down. While his automatic defenses didn't target her, the boy looked at his mother, and beams flashed from his eyes and hands to burn her. Still, the lady managed to avoid everything, and hugged her son, telling him it was alright. He stopped. The Older Auroran laughed maniacally. So long as he had the woman, and the boy, eventually he would have the throne. He landed and approached the pair. His old friend really seemed to have covered everything. Of course, the other Auroran wanted Louis as a puppet, but he was different. He planned to betray his friend and use this new kid to his advantage. The lady staggered back all of a sudden, releasing her son, with a smile on her face. The boy looked shocked. It was like his face wore an expression of pure horror. His right hand was covered in golden liquid - Auroran blood. "My son ... I am just a burden to you. I'm sorry. Be free now" smiled Aurora Zeill as he collapsed. The Older Auroran's eyes narrowed and he created his sword, walking purposefully towards the boy. This wasn't supposed to happen, and now he would have to answer to his friend. He never made it, as eight golden wings spread from the boy's back and his mind was utterly shattered by just comprehending them. The infinite rage and sorrow was far too great... Auroran Royal Palace Levith reappeared in the royal palace, clad in his Auroran regalia, rather than his normal clothing. A suit of black platemail, unlike any other armor or uniform in the land of Luminem. Probably because no other Auroran used black gear. Levith smiled as he surveyed the surroundings. It was good to be back home. Yet, he had to get to the bottom of the mysteries. Levith started to move through the palace, searching for his father. It was time for him to join the hunt for the antagonists in Luminem's history. (WIP) Category:Stories